Hammering Home Math

Working with power tools, hammering nails and climbing ladders with your friends and classmates – what more could a 5th-grader want?

That’s what students at Lansdowne Elementary (Fayette County) got to play with during their Hammering Home Math event, where they helped build a small house with the help of the If I Had a Hammer organization.

“The goal is to teach children how STEM applies to real-life situations,” said Perry Wilson, the founder of If I Had a Hammer, an organization that uses construction to help students understand how to use math in a real-world setting. “I dropped out of school. I wasn’t able to read until I was an adult, and I wanted to make sure that kids grew up with a better understanding of things than I did.”

Wilson’s builds give students the chance to attach siding, windows and doors to a prefabricated house frame.

“It was a lot of fun,” said Jarris Scott, a 5th-grader at Lansdowne Elementary. “We got to focus on our teamwork and learn what you can accomplish by working together.”

Along with learning to use math and science, Wilson also talked to the students about how to conduct themselves in the future when they’re looking for jobs.

“I know not everyone here is going to go to college,” Wilson told a group of students sitting around with their hammers and safety goggles. “You also need to know how to act professionally for any type of job that you do.”

Perry Wilson, the creator of If I Had a Hammer, speaks to students at Lansdowne Elementary during the Hammering Home Math event, where students helped build a small house using math principles.Photo by Bobby Ellis, Oct. 19, 2017Sarab Almsharee, a 5th-grader at Lansdowne Elementary (Fayette County), uses a power drill to attach a roof support to a prefabricated house.Photo by Bobby Ellis, Oct. 19, 2017Enas Rahim, a 5th-grader at Lansdowne Elementary, helps carry siding for the house that she and her classmates helped build.Photo by Bobby Ellis, Oct. 19, 2017Jerris Scott, left, fist bumps Trejan Happy as they help build a house with their classmates.Photo by Bobby Ellis, Oct. 19, 2017Alondra Reyes, a 5th-grader at Lansdowne Elementary, center, helps put a window in place on a prefabricated home used in the Hammering Home Math program.Photo by Bobby Ellis, Oct. 19, 2017Fifth-grade students at Lansdowne Elementary built a house during the Hammering Home Math program, which help students understand how to use math in a real-world setting.Photo by Bobby Ellis, Oct. 19, 2017Enas Rahim, left, and Sandhya Upreti use a power drill to screw a prefabricated wall to the frame of a house during the Hammering Home Math program.Photo by Bobby Ellis, Oct. 19, 2017Faith Woolery, a 5th-grader at Lansdowne Elementary, stands in a window frame while working on a house frame during a build put on by If I Had a Hammer.Photo by Bobby Ellis, Oct. 19, 2017Perry Wilson oversees students as they drill on side panels to a prefacbricated house.Photo by Bobby Ellis, Oct. 19, 2017

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